Launcher One

virgin Orbit

Daman Madan | seminar presentation | 04/05/2020

Introduction
Launcher One is a two stage orbital launch vehicle under development by Virgin
Orbit since 2007. It is an air launch to orbit rocket, designed to launch small
sat payloads of 300 kilograms (660 lb) into Sun-synchronous orbit, following air
launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. Launches are projected to begin in
2020.
The original Launcher One concept, 2007-2015, for a smaller launch vehicle (200
kilograms (440 lb) to low-Earth orbit) was shelved in 2015 and replaced by a
larger rocket design capable of putting a 300 kg (660 lb) mini sat payload in a
500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit, suitable for Cube Sats and small
payloads, with an expected cost less than US$12 million.

Design
Launcher One is a two-stage air-launched vehicle using two Virgin-designed
and built Newton RP-1/LOX liquid rocket engines. The rocket has a diameter of
1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) for the first stage and 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) for the second stage and
payload fairing. The first stage uses one Newton Three engine, while the upper
stage uses one Newton Four engine.
In October 2019, the company announced plans to develop a three-stage variant
that would be capable of launching 100 kg to the Moon, 70 kg to Venus, or 50 kg
to Mars.

Engines
Originally, in 2012, the second stage was to be powered by Newton One, a 16
kilo newton’s (3,500 lb) thrust engine. It was originally intended that the first
stage will be powered by a scaled-up design of the same basic technology as
Newton One, called Newton Two, with 211 kilo newtons (47,500 lb) of thrust.
Both engines had been designed by early 2014, and first articles had been built.
Newton One was tested up to a full-duration burn of five minutes. Newton Two
made several short-duration firings by early 2014. Ultimately, however, neither
Newton One nor Newton Two would be used on Launcher One.
As of 2015, Newton Three was to be a 260–335-kilonewton (58,000–75,000 lb)
thrust engine, and began hot-fire testing by March 2015. June 2015 reports
suggested that a Newton Three would power the first stage of Launcher One.

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By December 2015, Virgin had settled on a design where the first stage would
utilize the larger Newton Three engine on the booster stage, while the Newton
Four engine would power the second stage, and this was confirmed in June 2018
as Virgin Orbit readied for the start of the flight test campaign in the second half
of 2018. Newton Three will generate 330 kilo newtons (74,000 lbf) of thrust while
Newton Four will deliver 22 kN (4,900 lb) to the second stage.

Intended usage
Launcher One is designed to launch a 300 kg (660 lb) payload to a 500 km
(310 mi) SSO, suitable for Cube Sats and small payloads. Virgin Orbit has also
announced the ability of Launcher One to send payloads into heliocentric orbit for
flybys of Mars, Venus or asteroids.
Virgin Orbit will integrate payloads at their headquarters in Long Beach,
California.

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